Since January, I have been driving to work. It sucks sometimes because I have to sit in traffic and stare out the window waiting for the car in front of me to move, but lately, I have discovered the joys of listening to Podcasts. I no longer have to listen to radio DJs trying to make a joke, I no longer have to listen to people calling and winning prizes (because I am jealous that they are getting a tonne of cash) and I no longer need to listen to songs being repeated over and over again. I just switch my Podcasts app on, listen to my favorite Podcast and away I go.
Some of my favorite Podcasts are from NPR, Wait Wait Don't Tell me, Ask Me Another and my current favourite, the TED Radio Hour. The first two are hilarious and I sometimes laugh out loud in my car that the person in the car next to me looks at me funny. It makes the start of my day some what less daunting. I no longer dread the commute anymore, in fact, I look forward to it because I get to spend time with myself listening to my favorite radio without interruption.
I also get to learn when I listen to the TED Radio Hour and maybe get some motivation and try to apply it to my life. Some of the talks are really inspiring and some are funny. I had a light bulb moment the other day when I listened to this talk by Luis von Ahn, about how he came up with "Captcha and ReCaptcha", you know the squigly letters we need to enter when we sign up to something or buy something online to let the website know that we are infact human not computer programs. Did you know that everytime you enter in one of the Captcha words, you help digitise a book? HOW FREAKING AMAZING IS THAT! (you can listen to his talk here as I have linked his talk on the post)
Listening to talks like these makes me look at every day life in a different light. It makes me feel like I can do so much with so little. It makes me feel like, "Hey, there are good people out there doing amazing things!" If you get a chance to listen to TED Radio Hour, you might want to download the Haves and Have-Nots episode. So inspiring.
